The present invention generally relates to lenticular lenses. In one aspect, the invention relates to high definition lenticular lenses. In another aspect, the invention relates to high definition lenticular images.
Lenticular lenses take the form of a transparent plastic sheet or web, and the sheet typically includes an array of identical curved or ribbed surfaces that are formed (e.g., cast, coated, embossed, extruded, or co-extruded) on the front surface of the plastic sheet. The back surface of the lens is typically flat. Each lenticule or individual lens is typically a section of a long cylinder that focuses on, and extends over, substantially the full length of an underlying image. Other lens shapes or profiles are possible (for instance, pyramidal, trapezoidal, parabolic, and the like). The lenticular lens is generally selected to accommodate both the underlying image and the distance from which the image will ordinarily be viewed. Lenticular lenses and their technology are well-known and commercially available. Methods for using lenticular lens technology are described in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,113,213 and 5,266,995, the disclosures of which are incorporated here by reference.
A lenticular image comprises an underlying precursor image that has been applied to a lenticular lens in any of a variety of alternative ways (described further below). The preparation of the precursor image is well known in the art. The precursor image is a composite of two or more component images that are themselves preferably of photographic quality. The component images are selected based upon the desired features of the lenticular or final image. The component images are then arranged, segmented, interlaced and mapped to create the precursor image so that the precursor image (or simply xe2x80x9cimagexe2x80x9d) corresponds with the lenticular lens in any convenient manner, e.g., such as those taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,488,451, 5,617,178, 5,847,808 and 5,896,230, the disclosures of which are incorporated here by reference.
In the past, to perceive the desired visual effect (e.g., motion and/or depth), the image was typically printed to a substrate (e.g., paper, plastic, metal, glass or wood). Then the substrate was usually laminated to the lenticular lens (i.e, thereby creating the lenticular image). Such lamination typically required the application of an adhesive layer (i.e., to the lens sheet, to the substrate layer, or both). The adhesive, unfortunately, can deleteriously affect the optical properties of the image when viewed through the lens. In addition, lamination, of course, requires the extra, and often costly step of joining the two layers to one another.
Preferably, the image is printed directly to the flat back surface of the lenticular sheet or film, e.g., as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,515, the disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference.
Today, lenticular technology is in use on a variety of items, such as: promotional buttons, magnets, coasters, collectibles, display posters, signs, menu boards, postcards and business cards. Lenticular technology is also used in packaging, publishing and labeling applications. Such applications often include areas that contain small fonts and/or fine seraphs having type sizes, on the order of about nine (9) points or less. Warning labels, ingredient labels or listings, and ownership or attribution markings (e.g., xe2x80x9c(copyright)2001 National Graphics, Inc., All Rights Reservedxe2x80x9d), and the like are instances where small type size is common. In addition, bar code labelsxe2x80x94comprising lines and spaces between the linesxe2x80x94have also proven difficult to resolve. As used herein, xe2x80x9cresolvexe2x80x9d means to make visible and distinguish parts of an image, for instance, the image segments of an interlaced image. Issues like these have posed problems for those attempting to use lenticular technology in conjunction with packaging, publishing, labeling and other applications.
As one example, lenticular lenses having ribbed lenticules with widths on the order of about 0.01333 inches (corresponding to a lenticular lens having 75 lenticules per inch or xe2x80x9cLPIxe2x80x9d) to have been used in the printing industry, and in particular, for lithographically printed applications. Lenses having lenticules of such widths are considered to be xe2x80x9ccoarsexe2x80x9d in their resolution and, as such, they typically cannot resolve small print. Rather, resolving small type/font sizes requires a more xe2x80x9cfinexe2x80x9d lens resolution, namely, lenses having lenticules with widths on the order of about 0.006667 inches, more preferably about 0.005000 inches, and most preferably about 0.003333 inches or less. Such lenses are termed xe2x80x9chigh resolutionxe2x80x9d lenses.
A lenticular lens typically has a gauge thickness, (also referred to here as the lens xe2x80x9cgaugexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cthicknessxe2x80x9d). The gauge thickness (one example of which is shown as g2 of FIG. 1A) of a ribbed or hemispherically-profiled lens is typically the thickness as measured from the outermost edge of the curved surface of the lens to the flat back surface of the lens. High resolution lenticular lenses have typically been relatively thick in their gauge, namely, on the order of at least about 10 mils, or even more. Using thicker gauge (i.e., greater than 10 mils) lenses has led to a variety of problems, especially in the packaging, labeling and publishing industries.
Lenticular lenses are typically made of a plastic material, for example, one or more of: polyester, vinyl, polycarbonate, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), amorphous polyethylene terephthalate (APET), and the like. As such, the lenses tend to resist manipulation (e.g., bending, twisting, forming, etc.) that can be required for a particular application. Such lenses actually tend to return to their original shape after the tension of manipulation has been released. For example, a curled plastic lenticular sheet, once flattened or straightened, tends to curl when not fixed in place. In other words, many plastics tend to have a xe2x80x9cmemoryxe2x80x9d, and the thicker the plastic, the greater the memory. Moreover, the greater the memory, the greater the difficulty in manipulating the plastic, for instance, bending the lenticular around a package corner, or around a curved application, such as a cup.
Thicker lenses, since they require more plastic material, are usually more expensive to manufacture. In fact, it has been found that perhaps about one third of the cost of current lenticular printing can be attributed to the cost of the lenticular plastic itself.
To address these issues, thin lenticular lenses (i.e., lenses having a gauge thickness of less than about 10 mils) are desirable.
Thin lenticular lenses having a narrow lenticule width have been produced, but have heretofore been inadequate for use, at least at a commercial level. To date, viewers, when viewing an image through a thin lenticular lens, have experienced image degradation. Image degradation can take a variety of forms, and these include, for example, blurring and/or ghosting of an image. Typically, a viewer will view the lenticular image from a desired or predetermined distance. To achieve the desired affect (i.e., motion and or depth), the viewer when viewing the lenticular image, will change the angle of observation of the image. This can be accomplished the viewer moving from one location to another, by moving the lenticular image itself (e.g., a hand-held image on a cup or trading card), or a combination of both. Again, the precursor image (which is joined to the lenticular lens to make the lenticular image) is a composite of two or more component images. As the angle of observation changes for a viewer, typically one or more of the component images is intended to be viewed. The remaining component images are not intended to be viewed at that angle of observation. xe2x80x9cGhostingxe2x80x9d occurs when those image(s) that are not intended to be seen by a viewer are in fact seen.
Heretofore, the images that have been viewed through thin lenticular lenses with narrow lenticules have also been out of focus (i.e., not sharply or clearly defined). Such lenses have not sufficiently resolved individual image segments (as is required to properly create the illusion of motion and/or depth), but instead have typically resolved an area larger than one of the image segments, for example, two juxtaposed image segments. As such, with respect to thin lenticular lenses with lenticules having narrow widths, problems associated with image clarity and sharpness, in addition to image degradation, have resulted in a lenticular image that is unsuitable for use, at least at a commercial level.
Accordingly, a lenticular lens that provides for a lenticular image that can be viewed in focus and without degradation is of interest to a variety of industries, such as the packaging, labeling and publishing industries. The lens would preferably solve the aforementioned image quality problems in a cost-effective manner.
A high definition lenticular lens and a high definition lenticular image are disclosed that solve the aforementioned problems.
In one aspect, disclosed herein is a high definition lenticular lens comprising: a front surface comprising a plurality of lenticules, each of the lenticules having characteristic parameters that comprise a focal length, an arc angle that is greater than about 90 degrees, and a width that is less than about 0.006667 inches, and a substantially flat back surface opposite the front surface; wherein the lens has a gauge thickness that is substantially equal to the focal length.
In another aspect, disclosed herein is a high definition lenticular lens comprising: a front surface having a plurality of lenticules, each of the lenticules having characteristic parameters that include a focal length, an arc angle that is greater than about 90 degrees, and a width that is less than about 0.006667 inches; and a substantially flat back surface opposite the front surface; wherein the lens has a gauge thickness that is substantially equal to the focal length and the gauge thickness is less than about 10 mils.
In another aspect, disclosed herein is a high definition lenticular image comprising: a lenticular lens comprising: a front surface having a plurality of lenticules, each of the lenticules having characteristic parameters that include a focal length, an arc angle that is greater than about 90 degrees, and a width that is less than about 0.006667 inches; a substantially flat back surface opposite the front surface; and an image that is joined to the substantially flat back surface of the lens; wherein the lens has a gauge thickness that is substantially equal to the focal length.
In another aspect, disclosed herein is a high definition lenticular image comprising: a lenticular lens comprising: a front surface having a plurality of lenticules, each of the lenticules having characteristic parameters that include a focal length, an arc angle that is greater than about 90 degrees, and a width that is less than about 0.006667 inches; a substantially flat back surface opposite the front surface; and an image that is joined to the substantially flat back surface of the lens; wherein the lens has a gauge thickness that is substantially equal to the focal length and the gauge thickness is less than about 10 mils.
In yet another aspect, disclosed herein is a high definition lenticular image comprising: a lenticular lens comprising: a front surface having a plurality of lenticules, each of the lenticules having characteristic parameters that include a focal length, an arc angle that is greater than about 90 degrees, and a width that is less than about 0.006667 inches; a substantially flat back surface opposite the front surface; and an image that is printed directly to the flat back surface of the lens; wherein the lens has a gauge thickness that is substantially equal to the focal length.
In still another aspect, disclosed herein is a high definition lenticular image comprising: a lenticular lens comprising: a front surface having a plurality of lenticules, each of the lenticules having characteristic parameters that include a focal length, an arc angle that is greater than about 90 degrees, and a width that is less than about 0.006667 inches; a substantially flat back surface opposite the front surface; and an image that is printed directly to the flat back surface of the lens; wherein the lens has a gauge thickness that is substantially equal to the focal length and the gauge thickness is less than about 10 mils.
In another aspect, disclosed herein is a package comprising: a package substrate; and a high definition lenticular lens comprising: a front surface having a plurality of lenticules, each of the lenticules having characteristic parameters that include a focal length, an arc angle that is greater than about 90 degrees, a width that is less than about 0.006667 inches; and a substantially flat back surface opposite the front surface; wherein the lens has a gauge thickness that is substantially equal to the focal length; and wherein the lens is joined to the package substrate.
In yet another aspect, disclosed herein is a container comprising: a container substrate; and a high definition lenticular lens comprising: a front surface having a plurality of lenticules, each of the lenticules having characteristic parameters that include a focal length, an arc angle that is greater than about 90 degrees, and a width that is less than about 0.006667 inches; and a substantially flat back surface opposite the front surface; wherein the lens has a gauge thickness that is substantially equal to the focal length; and wherein the lens is joined to the container substrate.
In another aspect, disclosed herein is a cup comprising: a cup substrate; and a high definition lenticular lens comprising: a front surface having a plurality of lenticules, each of the lenticules having characteristic parameters that include a focal length, an arc angle that is greater than about 90 degrees, and a width that is less than about 0.006667 inches; and a substantially flat back surface opposite the front surface; wherein the lens has a gauge thickness that is substantially equal to the focal length; and wherein the lens is joined to the cup substrate.
In another aspect, disclosed herein is a label comprising: a label substrate; and a high definition lenticular lens comprising: a front surface having a plurality of lenticules, each of the lenticules having characteristic parameters that include a focal length, an arc angle that is greater than about 90 degrees, and a width that is less than about 0.006667 inches; and a substantially flat back surface opposite the front surface; wherein the lens has a gauge thickness that is substantially equal to the focal length; and wherein the lens is joined to the label substrate.
In still another aspect, disclosed herein is a high definition lenticular image comprising: a lenticular lens comprising: a front surface comprising a plurality of lenticules, each of the lenticules comprising characteristic parameters that comprise a focal length, an arc angle that is greater than about 90 degrees, and a width that is less than about 0.006667 inches; and a substantially flat back surface opposite the front surface; and an image that is printed directly to the flat back surface of the lens, the image comprising at least one of: a photographic image, a bar code image, and a text image, the text comprising a type size of less than about 9 points; wherein the lens has a gauge thickness that is substantially equal to the focal length. Various other embodiments, features, objects and advantages of the present invention will be made apparent from the following detailed description and the drawings.